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Functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain has helped to reveal mechanisms of pain perception in health and disease. Recently, imaging approaches have been developed that allow recording neural activity simultaneously in the brain and in the spinal cord. These approaches offer the possibility to examine pain perception in the entire central pain system and in addition, to investigate cortico-spinal interactions during pain processing. Although cortico-spinal imaging is a promising technique, it bears challenges concerning data acquisition and data analysis strategies. In this review, we discuss studies that applied simultaneous imaging of the brain and spinal cord to explore central pain processing. Furthermore, we describe different MR-related acquisition techniques, summarize advantages and disadvantages of approaches that have been implemented so far and present software that has been specifically developed for the analysis of spinal fMRI data to address challenges of spinal data analysis.

We describe a universal system for research in combined real-time optoacoustic (OA) and laser-ultrasonic (LU) imaging. The results of its testing on the task of needle insertion into the blood vessel model diagnostics are presented. In OA mode, where laser light is absorbed directly in the sample, the contents of blood vessel model is clearly visible. In LU mode, where the short ultrasonic probe pulse scattered on the sample is detected, the needle is clearly visible. The developed solution combining OA and LU imaging modalities due to the common detection system allowed real-time diagnostics of the position of medical needles (0.63 mm and 0.7 mm in diameter) inside blood vessel models (1.6 mm and 2.4 mm in diameter). Frame rate was 10 Hz. High longitudinal spatial resolution of the system − 0.1 mm − allows distinguishing the two walls of the vessel model and the position of the needle inside.